Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Tony Bennett: 'America is culturally void'

Legendary singer Tony Bennett has slammed his home country of America for not contributing anything other than jazz music to world art and culture.

The If I Ruled The World crooner feels that Europe and Asia offer far more culturally than America does.

Bennett says, "I have travelled around the world to Asia and Europe. They show you what they have contributed to the world. The British show you theatre, the Italians show you music and art, the French show you cooking and painting, and the Germans show you science.

"The only thing that the United States, which is still a young country, has contributed culturally to the world is jazz - elongated improvisation. It's tragic."

And Bennett feels that Americans don't even appreciate the impact of jazz in popular culture.

He says, "Fifty years from now people will be bowing to Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, just like impressionist painters like Monet, who were starving in their day. The Americans don't even know what they have come up with."